Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(April 2004)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
Who won the war Dad? (So many questions - so
few acceptable answers).
No one wins a war son---Everybody suffers, some more
than others.
Dateline: Friday 20th March 2004. (*)
 It
was one year ago today that President Bush, against the
advice of the United Nations, France, Germany, China,
and Russia, gave the order for American Forces to unilaterally
invade Iraq. So in order to answer the question one must
look at where the situation stands today and bear in mind
that, (as with all wars), the only entities in general
to profit from a war are big business interests, politicians,
and the manufacturers of weapons of war.
(*) Correct
me if I’m wrong, but didn’t one of my news
letters quote that the official commencement of the American
coalition war against Iraq was 09:30pm Washington D.C.
time on Monday the 17th of March, 2003. Perhaps that was
the day that President Bush declared America’s intentions
to conduct a pre-emptive strike against Iraq.
Questions and comments:
As it is pretty obvious that I do not have access to information
available from within the inner sanctums of the intelligence
community, I have to base my answers and comments on information
available in the public domain.
As you can well imagine this is an extremely difficult
task sorting out what I consider to be reasonable, truthful,
and accurate answers to the questions that I’ve
posed. So it behoves me to try to give you one man’s
opinion of possible answers.
I will try to keep the answers short and concise, so please
don’t expect the wisdom of Solomon.
The questions that come readily to mind are:
-
 Did
America, and its coalition, achieve their objectives
of ridding Iraq of the brutal dictator Saddam Hussein
and his two equally brutal sons Uday and Kusay, in
addition to capturing leading members of the ruling
Baath Party who supported Saddam Hussein’s despotic
regime?
Comment: Yes the coalition had great success in achieving
it’s objective of winning the war. But unfortunately,
as of now, they haven’t won the peace.
-
Did the American Invasion achieve another of its
major objectives, (which was given by the American
Administration as one of its prime reasons for going
to war), the finding of Weapons of Mass Destruction,
(WMDs)?
Comment: No weapons of mass destruction have yet been
found, and it has been suggested that it was highly
questionable that Saddam Hussein had such weapons
after Gulf War One.
-
Did the United States get inaccurate and misleading
information from Iraqi dissidents living outside Iraq?
Comment: They certainly did. The founder of the London-based
Iraqi National Congress (INC), Ahmad Chabali, a controversial
figure, (said to have been convicted in absentia of
embezzlement by a Jordanian court in 1992), and recently
a close advisor to the civilian leadership at the
Pentagon was instrumental in introducing Iraqi defectors
to the United States government.
The coalition intelligence community received the
Iraqi defectors with open arms when they claimed to
have knowledge of Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs
and Iraqi ties to Al-Qaeda. Later the CIA questioned
the credibility of the information provided and cited
the information to be faulty and unreliable. Even
so, it has been suggested that certain members of
the United States Administration cherry picked information
gathered by the CIA from Chabali’s defectors
to boost their propaganda for a war with Iraq.
Ahmad Chabali, a 58 year old banker, (who had been
in exile for 40 years), is reported to have been handpicked
and supported by the American Administration to become
the leader of the newly formed Iraqi National Congress.
I would suggest Mr. Chabali may have aspirations to
become President of Iraq - but will the Iraqi people
accept an Iraqi defector who spent forty years in
exile, as a future leader of their country. I would
suggest that the answer is a definite no.
-
Did America promote the war with Iraq based upon
the publication of what turned out to be false information,
such as the suggestion that Iraq had ties with the
Muslim extremist organization Al-Qaeda, and that Iraq
also had possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
Comment: It would appear that since no WMD's were
found, or any association by Iraq with Al-Qaeda ever
proven, then one has to assume that the allegations
that America promoted the war based upon false premises
are correct.
I still believe that the protection of American oil
interests was a major reason, (a reason that was never
given by the administration), for going to war with
Iraq.
-
Did the United States make sufficient and adequate
plans for governing and policing a post war Iraq following
a successful war to depose Saddam Hussein and his
despotic regime of terror?
Comment: Apparently not. It would appear that the
rioting and looting, which occurred post war, apparently
took the people of the United States completely by
surprise.
-
Did the United States expect the Iraqi people to
welcome them with open arms and rejoicing when Saddam
Hussein and his Baath Party supporters were defeated?
Comment: Apparently in their naivety, that is exactly
what they expected. How wrong could they be!!!
-
Did the United States anticipate the loss of over
500 members of its armed forces in the post war period?
Comment: Who knows what the Bush Administration and
the Pentagon expected - I’m sure that the American
people certainly did not expect the loss of so many
young American lives.
-
Has the violence continued?
Comment: Yes with a ferocity apparently not anticipated
- daily bombings and the killing of American Forces,
(and Iraqi civilians, who apparently are considered
to be supporting the American instituted occupation),
are a constant threat to the stabilization of post
war Iraq.
-
Did the United States really believe in its naivety,
that they would be able to install Democracy in a
Muslim country?
Comment: Oh yes. The people of the United States firmly
believed that their form of Democracy is the only
method of Government and that the Muslim people would
readily accept such a radical change to their accepted
form of government and way of life.
-
Did the United States, (with its apparent lack of
foreign policy and diplomacy), believe that they could
unite three different religious groups to form a united
and democratic Iraq?
Comment: Yes. The people of America always believe
that the American way of life is the best in the world,
(and the only way of life), and cannot understand
why the people of other nations do not adopt their
democratic way of life.
-
Has the rebuilding of Iraq’s infra-structure
been successful, and did the United States realise
the enormous financial costs that would be involved?
Comment: Reports coming out of Iraq appear to indicate
that the re-building of Iraq’s infra-structure
is extremely slow and has not been as successful as
the Administration would have liked it to be. There
are many reasons why this has not been accomplished,
which are too lengthy to go into at this juncture.
With regard to the cost - Perhaps the Pentagon planners
had a vague idea of the potential costs - but I don’t
think the average American realized the enormous cost
this undertaking would require and that the financial
burden would be placed upon their shoulders.
-
Are some American companies taking advantage of
the rebuilding situation and committing acts of fraudulent
and excessive billing for services that have not been
provided?
Comment: Unfortunately the answer is yes. Certain
American companies, and their sub-contractors, have
been shown by various auditing committees to have
charged excessive amounts for the prices of petroleum
products, and for food provided to the American forces.
It is well documented that even in a peacetime environment
it is common practice for large companies, (involved
in providing material and services to the military),
to have a tendency to elevate their prices due to
the strict requirements imposed by the military.
-
Are the people of Iraq better off than they were
one year ago?
Comment: That is a question that only the Iraqi people
can answer.
-
Bottom line: Is America a safer place than it was
one year ago?
Comment: I cannot answer for the American people as
a whole, but in my humble opinion the answer is certainly
not. The threat of terrorist action on American soil
still lingers. Muslim extremism and the threat of
retaliation against America and Americans appears
greater now than it was at the time of the 11th of
September terrorist incident, even though many more
stringent security conditions are now in place that
weren’t in place prior to the September 11th,
2001, tragic occurrences.
As I said in a previous paragraph, So many questions,
so few "acceptable" answers.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents of these
newsletters. Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
|
